I finally ordered parts for my new build last night, only thing missing is the CPU (awaiting price drops on the 19th of this month). I PMed everything to death...got everything from NCIX (mostly using DC as the PM source/lowest price)

I want to get a Quad, probably the Q9400 or the Q9450 (12Mo L2 cache)...I read somewhere that the Q9450 is supposed to go EOL...maybe the price will be good on the 19th (date where Intel drops the prices on some CPU, and introducing a few new models).

I want to OC this CPU as much as I can. I don't really want to get a Q8200 or Q8300, because the multi is too low...

My Ram can go to DDR2-1000 (even 1066 as seen in OC reviews) and the mobo is good enough to venture a little bit above the 400 FSB...So I'm aiming for around 450 FSB X 8 multi to get a decent 3.6Ghz...
Does it sounds right? Should I go Q9550 (multi is just 0.5 higher than Q9400 series)

The Q9400 can be seen at around $280 Can, Q9450 at $360 and Q9550 around $340...
So what can be expected for price drops in CAN dollars (I seen the US dollars price drop list) We can't just convert the US to CAN prices to compare, as there is more than exchange rate in the equation... and I don't want to spend more than $275 on a new CPU...so what do you think? Will April 19th will bring the deals of the century? Is it even worth waiting/holding my purchase?

Go with a Q9550 why go with something thats lower binned but higher price, i seriously couldnt find a Q9450 for under $400 when I was looking. With the Q9550 you atleast get double the cache and will last you a long time. Id stay away from the Q8200 and 8300s their low multies and top out at like 3.4-3.5 where as the Q9s get upwards of 4ghz. What about a Q6600? its cheap fast and that xiggy should cool it just fine.

Yes I want a quad.
I got a E6420(4 mo cache L2)@ 3.2Ghz right now and I know the E8400 is a nice CPU, able to reach a 4.0GHz OC. I'm upgrading for the long run...I'll probably keep that rig for a long time...I just got lucky to get the un-expected $$$ to upgrade. I'm mostly a gamer and I know gaming is Dual-core territory right now...only hoping more multithreaded games will come out and make me appreciate the Quad in the long run.
I guess a quad might be good to take care of the Xfire/GSC voice chat/background tasks while I play, go through virus scans faster, and maybe encode/rid DVDs (safety backups of my OWN DVDs) faster.